The latest Canadian Press-Harris/Decima survey explored Canadians’ attitudes toward the oil and gas industry and potential pipeline construction projects currently being discussed.

According to Harris/Decima Senior Vice President Doug Anderson, “this latest survey re-confirms that Canadians appreciate the importance of the oil and gas industry to the Canadian economy. The level of support for building any sort of pipeline is closely tied to perceptions of the sector’s economic role. However, our data also show that despite this general correlation, there are some segments of the Canadian population that think differently. These segments use other criteria to determine their support for pipeline construction. For anyone attempting to engage the public in a pipeline debate, these results suggest the need to use different kinds of evidence when addressing certain audiences.”

Overall, this study reveals that:

Canadians see the oil and gas sector as particularly important to the national economy;

The majority are able to be supportive of building some sort of pipeline to transport Alberta oil sands product;

The importance of oil and gas to the economy tends to drive support for pipeline construction – regardless of the pipeline in question – and particularly as it may relate to a regional economic benefit;

Many women are still inclined to oppose the construction of any pipeline, despite seeing the sector as economically important, suggesting some other factors are influencing their opinions.